The Department of State Visa Office has made several predictions regarding the movement of priority dates for the remainder of 2009 and beyond. These predictions include the following:
- Regarding the EB1 category, all countries are expected to remain current for 2009 but this is expected to change in 2010 for India and possible China due to high demand
- Regarding the EB2 category, retrogression for India and China is expected to worsen for India and China. Both countries are expected to become unavailable in August or September 2009.
- Regarding the EB3 category, EB3 wordwide and for China, India, Mexico and Philippines are expected to reamin unavailable for the remainder of the fiscal year. In October, it is likely the priority dates will be March 1, 2003 for EB3 worldwide, China will be March 1, 2003, India will be November 1, 2001 and Mexico will be March 1, 2003.
- Regarding the EB4 category, it is expected to be current for the remainder of the fiscal year but a cut off date will likely be established in FY2010.
- Finally, for the EB5 category, it is expected to remain current for the foreseeable future though there is higher demand in this category.